Wild Card
by Xeen Cyr
Summary: Cards play a trick on Peter.


**FRINGE**

**Wild Card**

_Fringe doesn't belong to me though it would be fun. I'm borrowing the characters and I promise I will put them back in their box when I'm finished. _

Note: some time after "_Safe_" [S1E10] – possible "_Bound_" [S1E11] spoilers

Just some thoughts to get us all through that horrid Xmas hiatus!

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

She could count cards. A woman who could count cards was not only an oddity, he was not prepared to let her go. He will give her a quick phone call to make sure she was okay. For the first time in months, this whole scheme with Big Eddie was not so important any more and he was not eager to go back to life as he knew it.

It had been an exhilarating day and now he had to call her. He needed to hear her voice. Something had shifted in their relation and he wanted to make sure he was not merely imagining it.

He had to call her, to say hi, to tell her that he was glad he stayed. That maybe, there was the glimpse of a better something for the future, a something they could share.

"Walter, time to get back to the hotel. What are you doing anyway?"

"I'm attempting to build a new stool."

"A new stool? Why would you need a new stool?"

"I don't."

"Of course you don't."

"It's for Gene and Miss…"

"Astrid?"

"Yes!"

"I don't understand."

"Open your mind to new possibilities, son. Imagine Astroid milking Gene every morning? We could throw a brunch every now and then with your colleagues."

"We could obviously as soon as you devise a plan to bake bread and muffins."

"I'm working on that."

"It is very thoughtful of you Walter."

"So I have made sketches of a pine seat board which is sawed out to fit the circumference of the bucket, with the iron bent to the curve and fastened to the board. And see, this little shelf on the front support? It would hold the bucket at the right height, and keep it clean and out of the way of Gene's foot while milking."

"I see. But it can wait until tomorrow, can't it? Aren't you hungry? What if I order pizzas? Or Chinese? Your call."

"We may go to _the _restaurant instead Peter? I'm certain that Astrolab would like to share an outrageously expensive meal with us."

"Don't be so sure Walter, she might very well say no."

But she said yes and here they were, in that fancy restaurant ordering dishes which names didn't ring any bell to any of them and it was fun.

"If you will excuse me…" he said, getting up from their table, "Astrid, please if you could…"

"No sweat Peter, take your time. I'm not going anywhere," she added with a smile towards Walter who simply beamed.

Peter pushed the front door and cast a glance on each side of the street before dialling Olivia's number. Old habits die hard. His call went directly to her voice mail.

"_Please leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can_."

"Olivia? Well, you're probably interrogating some villains right now; I just wanted to say hi and… well, I guess I just wanted to say hi." He smiled. "If you want to call me back later, I will most likely be awake so… or feel free to drop by… anyway… okay. Well, I'll talk to you in the morning then."

He was outside that top-notch restaurant downtown, freezing his butt and making a fool of himself and he was not even beginning to resent her for it. His head dropped to his chest and he grinned. He was really smitten. Who would have known that all it takes was a lame card trick?

"Peter, you're back, I was just saying to Adriana that you are a very good magician."

"You want me to perform for you? No way. Tomorrow maybe… --not now anyway."

"Peter, that's true? I thought he was…"

"Delusional? No he is not, not this time. But no seriously, I'm not doing it. It's something I shared with you at the lab and I'm not in the mood to do it again tonight."

"Of course you're in the mood Peter," Walter protested adamantly. "I should have brought some of those pills I perfected today at the lab, but maybe a couple of drinks will suffice to loosen you up."

"I don't care how many drinks you consider to put in me but I won't do it Walter. Get over it."

Walter seemed to shrink and got his attention back to his fork. He started fidgeting with his plate and his face drooped.

"Okay. What do you want first? Cards? The thingy with the dollar coin?"

"Yes, yes."

"Here you go. Sorry Astrid."

"That's fine Peter, I love magic!" she said without even batting an eyelid and Peter had a peek of the reason why Walter was so fond of her. She was constantly wearing her poker face on. And despite the fact that she was a very talented and gifted FBI agent, she was not afraid to let her inner child come to the surface when needed.

-o-

Walter was finally asleep, his earbuds headphones isolating him from reality, his iPod playing lectures from the latest Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz conference on Einstein, historical perspectives on geometry, gravitation and cosmology in the 20th century. It was almost three in the morning, usually her time of choice to barge into their room with the latest news from the twilight zone. He checked his phone to make sure he had not missed her call.

He tossed for a while on his uncomfortable couch, trying to find some elusive sleep. What did she say? That she will look into it to find them better accommodation in Harvard or whatever? When was that exactly? Now that he was slowly reconnecting with his father and his peculiar idiosyncrasies, he needed a place of his own to regain something resembling intimacy. Before he knew it, he was up, pacing from the couch to the bathroom and back, a gray cloud hovering above his head.

He had to call her. Too bad if he was found out. He had witnessed first hand her confused looks when he threw his wise cracks at her for the last couple of months and all he cared at the moment was to see her face. He speed dialled her again.

"_Please leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can_."

She was probably asleep. It was odd though, since she always answered her phone, no matter what. He pondered whether to go to her place and make sure her poltergeist boyfriend was not hitting on her again but decided against it. He will leave her another message.

"Is it time to go back to the lab, son?"

Peter spun on his heels to face his father and hung up. This could probably wait till morning.

"I would really like to have some hash brown potatoes, French toasts and fried bacon with blueberry preserve on the side, and some apple cheddar bagel broil. Cheddar is good."

"Apple cheddar bagel broil? What the hell is that Walter?"

"It is very simple actually. It's a little like a quick apple pie. You split one bagel in half and lightly toast it in the oven. Then the trick is to spread a little butter on each half and sprinkle it with cinnamon-sugar. I think I already mixed some at the lab. Then you top each bagel with apple slices and you place cheese slices on top and broil until cheese is bubbly."

"Bubbly?"

"Yes. It's quite delicious."

"And totally high fat yummy."

"Exactly! Can I get some?"

"I'm afraid you're a little too early for that treat Walter. It's not even four yet."

"Oh, I see. Is Olivia well?"

"Why are you asking?"

"No reason. I was simply curious son. You tried to reach her several times already on her cell phone. I posited it was not out of urgency."

"Back to bed Walter. Now!"

Peter stripped back into his boxer short and went back to the couch. How would he know anything about his attempts at reaching her, he thought? Fortunately, as soon as his head fell on the pillow he finally managed to get some sleep and the next morning he was anxious to being back to the lab. He was helping Walter to master the art of finding the perfect dosage of milk cream in a mokaccino, when Astrid barged in and she was more than upset.

"Have you phoned Olivia today?"

At this point, he was wondering who did not know he had called Olivia several times in the last twelve hours and what all these people knew of his ulterior motives.

"No, why? What's wrong?" he shrugged.

It was not even eight and with her stunt in Little Hill last night and probably a long night of interrogating and debriefing, it was unlikely she shows up early.

Astrid Farnsworth frowned. "She's missing."

-o-

_What do think? Did you like it?_


End file.
